Tag Archives: Super Awesome Wife

#1531: Mr. Meeseeks

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

MR. MEESEEKS

POP! ANIMATION (FUNKO)

“I’m Mr. Meeseeks!  Look at meeeeee!”

-Mr. Meeseeks

Oooooooo.  It’s that time of the year.  Time for the holiday gift reviews!  Caaaaan doooooo!  As with prior years, I’ll be kicking things off with my one non-Christmas gift of the season, as sort of a prologue to the main items.

My introduction to Rick and Morty was really just in the last year, and it wasn’t actually something from the show at all, but rather a gag animation done by the same crew featuring Rick and Morty reciting, verbatim, the record of an actual court case, which was somehow weirder than the actual show.  It piqued my interest enough to give the show as a whole a try, and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve seen.  In particular, I liked “Meeseeks and Destroy”, the episode that introduced the Meeseeks, a goofy disposable workforce.  Today, I’ll be following the advise of Mr. Meeseeks’ catchphrase, and taking a look at him!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Mr. Meeseeks is #174 in Funko’s Pop! Animation line, falling into their first assortment of Rick and Morty Pops.  The figure stands about 4 inches tall and has a basic swivel joint at his neck as his only articulation.  This Meeseeks appears to be based on Jerry’s first Meeseeks from the episode.  Since it’s the one we spend the most time with, that’s pretty sensible.  This guy merges the typical Pop aesthetic with the simplistic animation style of the show, though he leans a little bit more towards the show side of things.  Really, the only thing that denotes this as a Pop is the larger, squarer shaping of the head.  Everything else is pretty standard for Meeseeks.  He’s got the round, blank eyes, but that’s really not a change for Meeseeks.  He even ends up getting a mouth.  Technically, Pops are supposed to omit that detail, but it’s probably one of the most overlooked rules, and I believe all of the Rick and Morty figures got mouths, so Meeseeks is far from the only figure in this category.  His pose is appropriate for Meeseeks, and certainly breaks from some of the more generic Pop poses, so I can definitely get behind it.  Paint on Meeseeks is fairly sparse, with him mostly being molded in the appropriate shade of blue.  There’s a little bit of paint for his face and hair, and that’s all fairly decent.  Nothing amazing, but certainly passable work.  Meeseeks actually does include an accessory, which is outside the norm for a Pop.  He gets a display stand to help keep him upright.  I didn’t have too much trouble keeping him standing on his own, but I appreciate the option of the stand.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Mr. Meeseeks was given to me as an anniversary gift by Super Awesome Girlfriend.  She’s not really a fan of Rick and Morty herself, but she knows I like the Meeseeks, and she’s also a pretty huge fan of the “I’m Mr. Meeseeks” music video (which I definitely recommend giving a watch; it’s quite amusing), so she got me this guy.  Pops aren’t always my thing, but this is definitely a case where the source material really fits the style well, resulting in a pretty solid final product.

#1517: Han Solo – Concept

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

HAN SOLO – CONCEPT

STAR WARS: 30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION (HASBRO)

“The vivid imagination of conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie brought to life the characters and worlds envisioned by George Lucas. McQuarrie’s paintings and drawings were instrumental in the push to bring Lucas’s saga to the big screen, giving shape and form to a multitude of fantastic individuals, creatures, planets and technology encompassed in this epic tale. Developed in collaboration with McQuarrie himself, this remarkable action figure series pays tribute to the man whose art defined some of the most memorable characters in film history.

McQuarrie’s concept painting of central characters in A New Hope depicts Han Solo as a fierce Jedi Knight rather than a rougish smuggler. Wearing close-fitting battle gear, he is ready for combat with his lightsaber blazing and his face set with stern determination.”

Here, celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the Star Wars franchise, it’s nice to look back at all the possible what-ifs of the franchise.  Ralph McQuarrie’s contributions to the early designs of what was then titled The Star Wars are quite well-known within the fan base.  They’ve spawned comics, animation, and yes, even action figures.  I’ll be looking at one of those figures today!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Concept Han Solo was released in the seventh wave of Star Wars: 30th Anniversary Collection, as figure 47 in the line’s overall count.  He was the seventh of the Concept figures (there was one of them per wave), and is a slightly odd-ball figure in an otherwise Return of the Jedi-based assortment of figures.  The figure stands 3 3/4 inches tall and has 18 points of articulation.  Han was sporting an all-new sculpt, obviously based on McQuarrie’s early design of Han.  Ultimately, it;s rather far removed from Han’s final character, and seems to have more in common with Obi-Wan Kenobi’s final character, especially as seen in the Prequel Trilogy.  Still, it’s a pretty solid piece of retro-sci-fi design work, and the figure’s sculpt does a rather admirable job of replicating it in three dimensions.  It keeps a lot of McQuarrie’s style, but adds a touch or realism, so he’ll still fit in with the standard movie figures.  There’s a ton of detail work going on, especially on the various parts of his uniform.  If I have one complaint about this figure, it’s the way his articulation works.  It’s not bad; as a matter of fact, he comes from when Hasbro was really starting to improve the movement on their figures, so he’s got a lot of posablity. With that said, the joints aren’t always worked in so well, and when posed, they can leave him looking a little bit odd.  Han’s paintwork is actually pretty solid, and much more detailed than your average Star Wars figure.  The base colors all match up pretty well with the original concept work, and there’s a ton of accent work, which adds a lot of dimension to this figure that a good number of his contemporaries lacked.  Han was packed with a lightsaber (both on and off) and his blaster pistol.  They resemble the final film’s props, but are definitely more classic sci-fi, especially the saber, which has a cool energy flare effect going on at its base.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The McQuarrie Concept figures have always fascinated me, but for one reason or another, I’ve just never tracked them down.  And, honestly, if I was going to get just one of them, it probably wouldn’t be Han.  With that said, I was out with Super Awesome Girlfriend two weeks ago participating in Ellicott City’s Midnight Madness, and I found this guy at All Time Toys.  I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to get him, but she insisted on buying him for me, so here he is.  He’s actually a pretty solid figure, truth be told, and he has a fun bit of history behind him.  Now I definitely feel the need to track down the rest of these guys!

Guest Review #0047: Thor

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

THOR

MARVEL LEGENDS

Heyo and happy Thorsday, everyone! Heh, get it (You can’t see me, but I’m wiggling my eyebrows)? Of course you do, and if not that’s fine too. Quick fact: Thursday was originally called Thorsday after the Norse god Thor. Another fun fact: Wednesday was originally called Wodenesday, after Woden/Odin, and Friday is in honor of Frigg or Freyja. Alternatively, Wednesday was also the day of Mercury, and the Roman’s tried masking Odin and Mercury together. Anyways, wow sorry for the detour and on with the show!

THE FIGURE ITSELF

So this beautiful female warrior is the new Thor from the currently running comic series The Mighty Thor. She’s not Miss Thor or Lady Thor just Thor, the name given to her by the previous Thor who now calls himself Odinson. This Thor is one of a few in the new Thor Marvel Legends series, which also includes Thor: Ragnarok versions of Thor (male) and Loki with the build-a-figure being gladiator Hulk.

Thor stands at about 6 inches tall, and no I’m not going to crack out a measuring tape to give an exact measurement because I don’t really care for that. All I care about is that she looks cool, which she does, so sue me. She has 29 points of articulation and is built on the Moon Stone body, but she has unique head, cape, chest, left forearm, skirt, shins, and ankle thingies.

Thor’s head is pretty cool and I like what they’ve done with it. Her face and helmet aren’t super detailed, which is fine because there’s not much detail to them in the comic since she’s trying to hide her identity. The helmet could’ve had a little more detail then some paint and suggestions of markings, but honestly it doesn’t take away from the figure’s overall look. Her hair is molded such that she can wear her cape and still have some movement, unlike other female figures I’ve seen that are limited by their long hair. The cape is neat but also kind of annoying because it has a hard time staying on sometimes, since the peg bent slightly and has to go into her back. Overall, the cape is neat in simplicity, with tons of wrinkles and some texturing to make it look like cloth. In the comic I think the cape is a bit longer, if not ridiculously long but I completely understand that that is hard to accomplish with a posable figure that’s supposed to stand on its own. Her arms are a little skinny for me, I think they should be a little bit bigger but I understand that Hasbro probably wanted to save money by reusing an older body. Her left forearm is unique because it has a special bracer that’s a part of the costume. The bracer is pretty cool and I really enjoy it. It’s all smooth and shiny with suggested layers and little markings that show where the arm bands connect to the metal, and then arm bands of tiny little buckles and actual suggestions of straps, loops, and holes for adjusting. I know, crazy to spend so much time looking at a forearm but it’s so detailed that I get carried away. Next is her chest piece which looks like a typical chest plate with some Nordic symbol that’s too small to discern. Like the arm brace, it’s shiny and has some texture that gives the appearance of thick metal, but it’s a slightly different color than the brace. My favorite part about her costume was the skirt and this figure does not disappoint me there. The skirt is not fixed to the figure, though I doubt it can be easily removed, and it is designed to help give her legs a more powerful look and also appear to be in motion, due to wind or something. It’s a simple piece but I really like it because it’s practical. The outside of the plastic is a bit rough like think cloth, the belt has little raised circles which are very common in leather belts, and the front flap’s border is a little raised to give it an embroidered look. Most of her legs are painted blank, assuming that she’s wearing leggings, and her shins are covered in cloth wrap that matches the skirt. The detailing in the wrapping is kinda cool because it does look like random shin wrappings; they’re not even symmetrical which makes it look a bit more authentic. Lastly, her boots…shoes are okay. There’s really nothing special there other than the tops are moveable, but there’s not much detailing to them.

Overall, the paint seems to be pretty well done.  I do believe that the design on her torso, under the chest plate, is printed onto the figure because the lines and details are too precise to be paint, but it’s not super obvious because the skirt covers it most of the time. There are a few places where the paint doesn’t quite fill in properly, but it’s not super noticeable. Then there are other places where the paint goes over the lines, but again it’s either well-hidden or so minor that as long as you’re not looking at it with a microscope you won’t notice. I will say that it’s weird that there are two different shades of metal grey used on the figure, her chest, helmet, and shoes are a darker grey than her arm brace and metal bits on her belt. Her only accessory is her hammer, Myeuh-muh (Mjölnir), which is pretty cool. There’re little etchings in the molding that simulate the knot designs on the hammer, and there’s groves in the handle too. You can also have her hold it by the strap or the handle.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

So I wanted to read more Marvel comics other than the ones Ethan was suggesting, even though they were good, I wanted to find something for myself. I was pushed toward the current Thor series after one of the publicity blunders Marvel faced earlier in the year. After doing more research into what happened and who said what, I realized that the whole thing was blown out of proportion and that the company wasn’t trying to be this bad guy people were crying over. So I decided that I would definitely start reading more Marvel comics, starting with one of their more popular series The Mighty Thor with the new female Thor and I fell in love instantly. When Ethan found out what figures were in this line, he immediately told me that female Thor would be included and I proceeded to make inhuman noises for about five minutes then begged him to keep a look out for her. After a few weeks of searching he found her in the bottom of a random cart in Walmart full of older Marvel Legends in an aisle completely away from the toy section. I’ve been happy with her ever since! She’s an awesome figure based on a cool character design from a comic that I’m enjoying way too much. Also she looks fantastic on my bookshelf!

Guest Review #0046: Jyn Erso

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

JYN ERSO

FORCES OF DESTINY

Heyo! Welcome to another review by yours truly, Ethan’s Super Awesome Girlfriend! Today I’m going to be reviewing the lovely Jyn Erso from Hasbro’s Forces of Destiny line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

“We have hope! Rebellions are built on hope!” ~Jyn Erso

For those of you who don’t know, Jyn Erso is one of the main leads in the Star Wars film Rogue One. She’s a young woman that’s never really been on the right side of Imperial law, but she always does what she thinks is right.

This figure is about 11 inches tall with 22 points of articulation. One of those points is in the waist which has a slight restriction in movement.  All of the pieces are unique to the figure and her outfit is mostly part of the figure’s sculpt, excluding the vest, scarf, boots, and gun holster.

Her hair tries to emulate the character’s hair style in the movie, and it succeeds for the most part using some sort of gel to keep the bangs together on the sides. I mean really, it’s hard enough getting side bangs like that on a normal person so I can cut the doll some slack. The shirt is all molded onto the torso and arms of the figure and looks to be tucked in at the waist. Her pants are also part of the mold of the legs. Both articles include seams, folds, creases, dips, and various other textures to make them more realistic; the pants even look like they’ve been shoved into her boots and even look asymmetrical in their folding. The material of Jyn’s vest is a lot like Rey’s, except it’s a different color and has different designs on it. Printed on the vest are a couple of pockets, one of them with items poking out, a zipper, and patterned texture to make it look like leather. Jyn’s hooded scarf is made of a gauzy material that isn’t completely seamed and so little bits of string keep coming off. Be careful, the scarf may unravel if you’re not gentle. Her boots and gun holster are made of the same slightly flexible plastic and are about the same color too. On her boots there are various buckles, flaps, seams, and creases as part of the sculpt to give off a leather boot vibe. Most of the noticeable paint is on the torso, arms, and hands and it’s okay. There is some grey from her shirt on both her neck and the bit where the sleeves meet skin. Also there is some brown from her gloves on her fingers.

Her only accessories are her gun and her baton. Apparently, most of Jyn’s action figures either don’t come with her baton or it’s all folded up and she can’t use it, which is a shame because I really like her baton; it’s different from other characters. The baton is fully extended and made of hard plastic; parts of it also have a patterned roughness. The figure’s action feature also includes the baton. If you squeeze her legs together the arm holding the baton moves. Her gun looks like an elongated pistol and it’s two different colors, though I can’t tell if it’s painted that way or not. The grip has patterned roughness and the mold also includes various ridges, indents, and do-dads to give it an authentic look. The gun is pretty cool and fits perfectly in the holster.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This was the third figure that I bought on Force Friday this year (2017) while I was out with Ethan. Originally I was going to wait to buy this figure and the others, but we wanted to get the gift card from target which meant I had to buy 100$ worth of Star Wars merchandise…woooh. Anyways, I really like having this figure because the character was so amazing in Rogue One and I hope to see more of her in the extended universe, like the YouTube series. If not, well, I’m happy she’ll be on my shelf!

Guest Review #0045: Princess Leia Organa & R2-D2

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

LEIA & R2D2

FORCES OF DESTINY

Heyo! Welcome to another review by yours truly, Super Awesome Girlfriend. Today, I’ll be reviewing the Leia and R2D2 combo pack from the Hasbro Forces of Destiny line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This Leia figure is based off her Hoth costume in the beginning of Empire Strikes Back. It’s one costume that rarely ever makes it onto an action figure, which is a shame because it’s a cool one. Her more common costumes are her white robes from A New Hope and her slave outfit from Return of the Jedi, those aren’t terrible costumes but I’m really glad the Hoth one is a first for this line. Anyways, I digress.

This figure stands at about 11 inches tall with 22 points of articulation and like all the others in this line, one of those points is in her waist and is slightly restricted in movement. All the pieces that make her up are unique; expect maybe the head which she might share with the other Leia in this line. Most of the figure’s outfit is sculpted into the mold, except her vest and shoes.

The hair is realistic looking and tries to emulate the style from the Hoth scenes from Episode 5. Not gonna a lie, but it looks a little weird to me. I know it’s hard to do that style exactly, especially with all that hair, but it throws it off a little for me. However, I doubt a lot of kids, who are the target audience, are going to care that it’s not quite right. Her arms, torso, and legs are sculpted to look like her snow suit, including wrinkles, divots, and various padding. The detailing on the snow suit is pretty cool; on some of the pads you can see little bits to suggest stitching, the pants wrinkle and puff out like they were shoved into boots, and she even has some wrinkles on her gloved hands. Her vest is made of some thin fabric sewn together is some places. On the vest is a printed on little panel of buttons that did Lord knows what and has a stimulated diamond pattern. Lastly her boots are made of a softer, more flexible plastic and still reminds me of Polly Pockets. The boots aren’t super detailed but you can see the straps and where it folds and wrinkles from the straps.

The figure’s paint is pretty simple and alright, there wasn’t really much to paint. There’s a little bit of white on her neck, but I barely notice it unless I’m staring at it super hard. Her face looks really nice and I’m happy that they kept it simple; they kept true to Carrie Fisher and didn’t try to elongate her lashes through style or make up.

Like all the other figures in this line, Leia comes with a couple of accessories. The first is her gun, which isn’t painted and all the detailing is in the mold. It looks pretty cool and appears to be one of the more detailed guns of the line…weird. It has a scope, ribbing, and various tiny little doodads and thingies to make it look like a legit Star Wars gun. Her other accessory is R2D2, who has three points of articulation. His legs are completely unrestricted movement and his head can spin around. He stands at about 4 ½ inches tall and his detailing is in both the mold and painted. The sculpt is pretty good and it even includes little details that people normally wouldn’t notice, like various little bolts, fans, and thinga-doos. The paint leaves little to be desired. Not all the various areas are painted in, some places the paint went over the line, there’s various blue smudges and areas that don’t have enough paint. Overall, the paint could’ve been a lot better.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I got this Leia on Force Friday even though she had been out for a while by then and wasn’t one of the main draws that day, but Ethan was getting a lot of stuff and I decided to grab this figure while we were out. I’ve always really liked Leia, she was one of the first princesses I was exposed to as a child. When I was two my parents took me to a rerelease of Empire Strikes Back and even though Yoda was my favorite character then (or so my parents claim; apparently I wouldn’t sit still when he came on and I continuously giggled), Leia was my favorite princess and I think she’s shaped a lot of my preferences for female characters. She was such a cool, charismatic, strong, yet soft individual that I wanted to be like her and not Cinderella, Snow White, or Aurora. I’m excited to have this figure in my collection and I can’t wait to get the other Leia in the line. Even though the R2D22 isn’t the best, he’s still a cool character and will keep BB8 company!

Guest Review #0044: Sabine Wren

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , ,

SABINE WREN

FORCES OF DESTINY

Heyo! Welcome back everyone. Wow, two reviews in one week−I’m on a roll! Anyways, today is another review for a figure that I got on Force Friday (2017), but has actually been out for a while.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

“You know what I do in hopeless situations…Blow stuff up!” –Sabine Wren

Sabine Wren is a character from Disney’s Star Wars: Rebels. A young Mandalorian warrior, Sabine kicks butt in the most creative ways and takes names…if they survive.

This figure stands at about 11 inches tall with 22 points of articulation, though again like the other figures in this line one of these points is in her waist and is slightly restricted. It’s safe to say that all of the figure’s pieces are unique. Most of the figure is made of plastic, except for her pants, gun holster, and boots.

The hair is colored after the second costume design for Sabine, with the two very different shades of blue, but I don’t think the figure has done the style quite right. Her hair always looked like it was dyed with the lighter blue at the ends, while at the base of it was the darker color. However, with this figure the top layer of the hair is dark blue and the under hair is the lighter color. While perfectly reasonably, a lot of women do similar dye jobs, it doesn’t quite fit the character design. Sabine’s torso is all hard plastic, with her collar plates, armbraces, and chest plate part of the molding. Below the armor is a under armor-like shirt that have fabric lines and seams built into the mold as well. Next, her legs a brown plastic to match her face and she is wearing simple Velcro pants, which have some printed seams, a camo pattern, and various other designs. Her boots are made of a flexible rubber-plasticy material and they appear to be slip-ons. The boots have leather creases and her ankle plates built into the mold. The rest of her armor (shoulder, elbow, and knee pads, and her helmet) is more removable than the others, and made of hard plastic with various creases to show scratches in the armor.

The paint job on the figure is okay. I really wished that they didn’t scale down the detailing on her armor, because Sabine’s armor was almost completely covered in various designs. I know it would’ve been a pain to do it, but I feel like the design of her armor suffered without it. Again, the paint job is alright. There are places where it splattered a little or smeared on the edges. The detailing on the helmet and chest plate are pretty nice though, which is the important part.

Her only two accessories are her guns. They’re identical in design and have a little detailing in the molding, but nothing with paint. They fit perfectly in their holster and she can duel wield them as well. The holster is a little disappointing because it’s a little scaled down from the original character design, in the show Sabine pretty much has her own Batman utility belt. This figure also has an action feature. If you squeeze her legs together and twist her waist her arm moves up and down.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Ethan and I started watching Rebels sometime earlier in the year and we really enjoyed it, but we haven’t had the chance to catch up with the series and the episodes have been a little hard to find. I really like Sabine because she’s a cool character that loves to change her hair color, which is something I can really relate to. I got this figure on Force Friday because Ethan was getting a bunch of stuff and I’d been looking for an excuse to get more from the Forces of Destiny line. Overall, I really like having this figure. It’s a cool character design with accurate body proportions, and I will die screaming that to the moon and back. Who wouldn’t want a kickass Mandalorian female warrior?

Guest Review #0043: Rey & BB-8

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , ,

REY & BB8

FORCES OF DESTINY

Heyo! Welcome back to Super Awesome Girlfriend Tries to Review Action Figures! Today, I’ll be reviewing one of the figures from one of the new toy lines from Hasbro.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This Rey and BB8 combo figure pack is modelled after the costume design at the end of The Force Awakens. After doing some research, I found out that this line is paired up with the web series Forces of Destiny on Disney’s youtube channel. I haven’t heard much about the series, but each episode is only a couple minutes and they focus on one character from the line at a time. So I guess I’ll have to check it out at some point. On another note, Rey does show up in the first two episodes but not in the costume of this figure here.

Rey stands tall at about 11 inches with 22 points of articulation, though I have to note that one of those points is in her waist joint that has slight restricted motion. I feel it safe to say that most of her parts are unique to this figure, the only thing I think she might share is her head sculpt with the other Rey figure in the line. Her pants and linen tunic are the only pieces of clothing that are actually apart of the figure’s mold. The rest of the outfit is made of either cloth, for the jacket and arm sleeves, or rubber, for her gun holster, the bottom of her tunic, and shoes.  The hair style is still her signature triple bun, which I still can’t replicate for myself, made with realistic hair that is tied with like colored rubber bands. Most of the hair in the buns and hanging loose are stiff to try and keep the hair all together, though my figure still got some hair pulled out from the style. Her tunic has a nice rough texture to stimulate the roughness of the material, and the bottom part is made of flexible rubber to allow the legs some free movement. Also, if you look closely enough you can see some slight creases in the top part of the tunic to indicate folds. Her jacket is made of a weird, smooth cloth material that is stitched together in some places and looks to have the jacket’s detailing printed onto the material. The end of the jacket is a little moldable, so that you can give the bottom of it a slight flare if need be. Her arm sleeves are made of two different cloth materials; the top is a striped gauzy fabric that is sown to and disappears under the second material which is the same as the jacket, including different printed designs. Rey’s pants are all plastic with simulated folds and texture in the mold and crafted knee/shin pads. Lastly, her shoes are made of a similar rubber as her gun holster, a different color of course, with texture and boot straps included in the mold. Her shoes aren’t fully attached to the figure, and they kind of remind me of a larger, rougher, and harder version of the little Polly Pocket boots.

The figure’s paint/print job is pretty good! I really like the printed detailing in the jack and arm bands. Her face is absolutely fantastic. The detailing in her eyes and brows are meticulous, including dark individual slashes in her eyebrows.  Her freckles are there but not overpowering, and it looks like there’s a slight pink tint to her cheeks that is also very subtle.

This Rey comes with a few accessories and an action feature. She has her (or rather Luke’s) lightsaber which has a simple, but decent paint job in the hilt with the blade made of clear blue plastic. Her other weapon is the pistol Han gives her, it’s made of plastic and has ridges and other detailing included in the mold of the gun. Her gun can either be held or stay in the holster. The action feature is quite simple and involves her lightsaber, but don’t let me foul you because it took me several tries to figure out how to get her to swing. Basically, you cock her right arm back until you hear a click, then you bring her legs together and twist her waist. It’s not a fantastic action feature, but it allows her to swing her lightsaber.

Then there’s BB8. I don’t know if I should count him separate or as an accessory, so I’ll do the former. BB8 is only a couple of inches tall with one point of articulation, ladies and gents he can spin his head around (wooooooo). He’s made of hard plastic with lots of grooves and ridges included in the mold to help make him look more realistic. His paint job is ok, it’s rather simple with a few mistakes here and there; not everyone can paint within the lines. Also, his antennae are made of a thinner and slightly shinier plastic, with some ridges.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I’ve been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember, apparently my favorite character when I was two was Yoda when he was still a puppet. Ethan showed me these figures a while ago and I was really excited for this new line from Hasbro. I had Barbies growing up, but I was never satisfied with them. And now that I have this Rey figure I feel like I just gained something I was missing when I was a little girl: a kick-butt female doll with realistic body proportions! One of my favorite things about this figure is that she looks so real, not like she hasn’t eaten in days and is about to snap at the waist. Yes, she’s really pretty but that’s because Daisy Ridley is super pretty. This figure can be marketed to girls and boys and it makes me so happy to own her! It’s a pain in the rear to get her to stand because of her infuriating Ugg-boot-thingies, but once I get it right she looks so killer on my shelf and I love it! BB8 is cute too, but he’s nothing special.

Guest Review #0042: The Punisher

Posted by hodgeppodge42 in Guest Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

THE PUNISHER

MARVEL LEGENDS

Heyo! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Last time, I was trying to review Mass Effect minimates (which I still need to finish, oops…) but I’m going to completely switch gears this time. Today, I’m going to introduce you guys to my gun-toting cinnamon roll Frankie (aka The Punisher)! Warning, throughout this review I will mostly call him Frankie, I know unprofessional –sue me .

THE FIGURE ITSELF

This figure is specifically designed after the character portrayed in the second season of Daredevil on Netflix. He comes in the same series of Hasbro’s Marvel Legends as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the build-a-figure Man Thing (who came up with that name???).

Frankie, here, stands at about 6 ½ inches tall with 30 points of articulation. According to Ethan, Frankie’s body is not reused from another figure; in fact, he is completely his own with all new pieces. What’s cool about this figure, and a lot of the newer Marvel Legends, is that some of his features are printed on. In this case, Frankie’s face and the skull on his chest have been printed, not painted, on. This allows for more precise detailing to be made on the figures, for Frankie it means that you can see a nice five-o-clock shadow going on there and a couple of small scars on his nose. I actually really like how Frankie’s face turned out, the detailing is fantastic and they were able to capture his serious, broody, and adorable face really well.  The detailing on his chest is pretty cool as well. You can see all the straps and buckles on his bullet-proof vest, they’re not painted on but are part of the chest’s sculpt. The print job on the vest is well done as well; it really does look like paint on a vest, and even includes implied rough texture of the vest’s material and a few drips of running paint. Frankie’s legs have a lot of subtle detail, with wrinkles, pockets, and rough texturing for the pants. I find his boots to be really interesting, while just normal plain combat boots, they were able to make it look like his pants were stuffed into his boots and not look like all one entity. His jacket appears to be removable, but suggest leaving it on because he would look weird without it, especially since his arms are sculpted to be wrinkly like coat sleeves. I also have to say a quick thing about his hands; if you look closely you can see the suggestions of veins and tendons, which is a neat little detailing. The paint on the figure is okay, it’s just black and skin tones. There are a few spots where his hair (mostly at the edge of his bangs is peach instead of black, and at the corners of his jaw his five-o-clock shadow doesn’t completely cover it.

For accessories, Frankie comes with two guns. The first is just your average pistol, painted silver with a textured handle and other small detailing related to that style of gun. The second is some kind of rifle…I’m not gonna lie, I don’t know guns and our gun guy isn’t here to tell me all the cool things about the larger of Frankie’s guns, including what the hell to call it. It’s a cool looking gun that I’m sure is supposed to fire rather rapidly, with a scope, a long, slightly curved magazine clip, and other gun do-hickeys. I’m sorry, I don’t know guns, you’ll have to forgive me or wait for this to be updated later with more (accurate) details on the gun. All I know is that Frankie’s larger gun is black and pretty badass looking.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

Frankie came to me while we were packing up our apartment to move elsewhere. I was having a pretty stressful time, and my super sweet boyfriend decided to get me this figure when he saw it to try to help me out some. I fell in love with my gun-toting cinnamon roll after watching his part in Daredevil season two. My (over) enthusiastic love for the Punisher surprised Ethan a lot, especially since I normally don’t care for morally gray characters, but Frankie was just different and stole my heart with his sad brooding and love for lots of bullets. So when Ethan saw that they were making this figure he showed me and I’m sure our neighbors could hear my fangirl-screaming three-floors up, and I wanted one ever since. I love this design of the Punisher and I’m so happy he’s a part of my growing collection of figures! I’m also super excited for his Netflix show, and you can bet your bum I’m gonna watch it with this figure in hand!

#1378: IG97 & Rom Mohc

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

IG97 & ROM MOHC

STAR WARS: LEGACY COLLECTION COMIC PACKS (HASBRO)

“Rom Mohc is an Imperial general involved in the testing of advanced battle droids known as Dark Troopers. One of these droids ends up on Tatooine and becomes activated by scavenging Jawas. The Dark Trooper attacks three friends camping in the desert. But things change when the prototype encounters a clumsy IG97 Battle Droid on Tatooine, and the machines battle each other.”

The Star Wars Expanded Universe may not be as “official” as it once was, but when it was in full swing, it encompassed a whole lot of stuff.  TV, video games, novels, and of course, comic books.  There are many, many unique characters there-in, with many of them remaining exclusive to one medium or the other.  Only a handful of characters have made appearances in multiple forms of media.  The set I’m looking at today includes one of those cross-over characters, as well as a character that only has one appearance to date.  Without further ado, let’s take a look at IG97 and Rom Mohc.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

This pair was released in 2010, during the Star Wars: Legacy Collection line.  They were part of the Comic Packs sub-line, and were offered as a Walmart-exclusive set.  The two are based on the Star Wars Tales #4 story “Sand Blasted,” in theory at least…

IG97

IG97, or IG-97 as he would be if he followed the usual droid naming conventions, is the less frequently appearing of the two figures included in this set.  In fact, his only appearance is in Star Wars Tales #4.  While he’s not the most major player in the story, he’s a fairly sensible choice.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 12 points of articulation.  He’s surprisingly posable for a figure of his scale, and definitely a lot of fun to play with.  IG-97 is built using the body of the 2009 Legacy Collection version of the Battle Droids from the prequels.  It’s a pretty close match for the design of the  droid from the comic, and it was one of the best droid bodies Hasbro had at the time (and even now, it really hasn’t been topped).  He gets a new head, which is based on the art from the book.  This is a point of contention for some, who find him to be too cartoony and goofy to truly fit in with the rest of the figures of this era.  Personally, I rather like him, and enjoy the character and expression present in the head sculpt.  I certainly prefer this look to the basic Battle Droid head.  For a figure that’s largely a pale tan color, the paint on this guy is surprisingly well-done.  He’s molded in the base tan, and then has a darker brown wash, which brings out the details of his sculpt very nicely, and also helps to replicate the line-art from the comic.  IG-97 included a standard Battle Droid blaster, as well as both the standard and commander back-packs from the Battle Droid.

ROM MOHC

Rom Mohc is a character with a decent chunk of appearances, in a number of differing mediums.  He first appeared as the antagonist of the Dark Forces video game.  Subsequent appearances have been related to that, by and large.  Him getting a figure isn’t that odd, but it being part of a set based on “Sand Blasted” is somewhat strange, given that he only appears in about 3 panels of the story at the very beginning, and he’s almost completely divorced from everything else that’s going on.  But, he’s here nonetheless.  The figure stands about 3 3/4 inches tall and he has 14 paint of articulation.  Despite technically having more articulation than his pack-mate, he’s much stiffer, and way more limited in posability.  The figure is largely re-used, with his upper torso and arms coming from the Revenge of the Sith Tarkin (which also served as the basis for the previously reviewed Comic Pack Tarkin) and his legs coming from Janek Sunber.  He gets a new head to top it all off.  While the actual quality of the pieces used isn’t bad, they don’t add up to a figure that looks much of anything like any of Mohc’s appearances; certainly not the comic that this guy was actually supposed to be based on.  A lot of it comes from the re-used body, which just doesn’t have the right build for Mohc.  All of the available Imperial officer bodies were on the skinny side, so there’s not much Hasbro could have done, I guess.  The paint on Mohc is decent enough.  It’s not terribly exciting, being mostly drab colors, but it gets the job done.  He’s packed with a SE-14C blaster, which he has a little bit of trouble holding.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I wasn’t super familiar with either character in this set prior to acquiring it, but I’m always a sucker for a cool robot toy, meaning this sets been in my sights for a little while.  I spotted the two at Yesterday’s Fun, and Super Awesome Girlfriend insisted on getting them for me as an early birthday present.  I can take or leave Mohc, since he’s not super exciting.  Still, he works as a nice generic Imperial Officer, so that’s something.  IG-97 more than makes up for any of Mohc’s shortcomings, and is easily one of my favorite Star Wars figures I’ve gotten in a while.

#1372: Martian Manhunter

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

MARTIAN MANHUNTER (aka “Martin Spartan”)

RETRO ACTION DC SUPER HEROES (MATTEL)

It’s been the better part of a month since I’ve looked at a DC Comics-based item, so I guess I should go ahead and give them some coverage too!  So, hey, that Justice League trailer just hit and it looks…about the same as everything other DC movie that’s been released in the last 4 years.  Oh goody.  I must admit, I’m not a huge fan of the line-up they’ve chosen for the team’s first live-action outing.  Obviously, I’m lamenting the lack of my personal favorite heavy hitter, Green Lantern, but I’m also really not digging the lack of J’onn J’onzz, aka the Martian Manhunter.  Sure, he’s not the team’s most prominent member, but it’s a bit like if they’d left Hawkeye out of the first Avengers movie.  Alas, there’s no going back now.  Anyway, I’m gonna make myself feel better by reviewing this here Martian Manhunter in all of his retro-inspired goodness.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Martian Manhunter (or “Martin Spartan,” as Super Awesome Girlfriend accidentally named him) was released in the fourth, and final, series of Mattel’s Mego-inspired Retro Action DC Super Heroes line of figures.  Like a large number of figures in the line, he has no original Mego counterpart.  The figure stands roughly 8 inches tall and he has 18 points of articulation.  J’onn was built on Mattel’s Mego-equivalent body, which is different from the standard body in ways that make it…different.  That’s it.  They’re changes for the sake of change, with no actual improvements to the basic body.  It’s just Mattel being weird, really, but hey, what else is new, right?  It’s certainly workable, and at a glance really isn’t much different, so that’s good.  Manhunter has a unique head-sculpt, which depicts an earlier, more human-like version of the character, which is certainly befitting of a Mego-styled figure.  Apart from a slight molding error on my figure, it’s a pretty great sculpt.  Manhunter has an outfit made up of a cloth jumpsuit, a cape, and a pair of rubber buccaneer boots.  The jumpsuit makes up his exposed skin, which is true to the old Mego style, and it has some nice extra bits attached to it make up his actual costume.  I particularly like the use of pleather for the straps and belt, though I do wish there were an actual buckle.  The cape is a little thin for my taste, but overall a nice addition.  The boots are nicer than a lot of the Retro Action figures, and look a good deal less bulky.  Manhunter is largely without paint; the only actual paint is on his eyes, and it’s probably my one real point of contention with this figure.  The sculpt is clearly a classic Manhunter, so his eyes should be white, and possibly even have pupils, but they are instead red, as they would be on a modern Martian Manhunter design.  It’s a small nit, but it sort of throws the whole retro thing off for me.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

My dad and I collected this whole line of figures together when it was first released, so I remember when this guy first hit.  The ones we collected are more part of my dad’s collection than mine, since he was the one with the vintage Mego collection, so I only have the few spares I picked up along the way.  This guy came into my collection when Super Awesome Girlfriend and I found him at a 2nd Avenue for $2.  Super Awesome Girlfriend felt sorry for him, and insisted that I add him to my collection.  He’s a pretty fun figure.  Definitely for a specific demographic, but fun nonetheless.